Redefining Authenticity
A shallow look at authenticity celebrity/influencer culture and a Spider-Man meme.
When we hear authenticity what comes to mind? It’s of course our values, if we stick to what we believe under pressure and if we’re being true to ourself. It’s the what you see is what you get mindset. Even deeper it’s the “I relate to you” feeling that sparks in us. We in fact want to be just like other girls and want other girls to be just like us.
That wasn’t always the case. We have changed what we want out of the celebrities and influencers. We moved out of the extreme wealth, white and grey colored boxes of perfectionism and the minimalist clean girl aesthetic and have moved into they are just like us.
Now we want peoples flaws on full display. We want this relatable grit to keep us feeling attached to people circling around our FYPs on our socials and in A list celebrities in pop culture. When it comes to our influencers and our celebrities we go back and forth on our need to be role models and flawed humans on a weekly basis.
Sometimes we need them to be so far from our everyday so we can gawk at and admire. Other times we need them to be so painfully like us so we can feel that par asocial rush. We build them up and up until they seem to far out of touch with reality and so out of our wheelhouse we then can say they lost touch. They should “remember who put them there” and “who gave them that fame”. When we expect a realistic and human approach and demanding a larger than life persona at the same time. How can they please everyone? They can’t.
We need to remember by seeing only five minutes of somebody’s 24 hours online of course everything seems perfect. The perfect shot. The perfect angle. The perfect life. Not too long ago the extravagant wealth kept societies attention and now it’s becoming much more popular to show some flaws and make yourself seem more down to earth or realistic to get a bigger following or change online. The internet pushed back.
Inevitably that persons following or popularity will get so big that the same people that followed you and loved you will then do a 180 and not be able to stand you. It’s been decided you’ve changed. That you’re no longer the person who acts like a person in the every day world. They claim you lost the plot.
That moment that change is what is more interesting. The shift in society where “hero” become “villain” and vice versa.
Think back to when Jennifer Lawrence was beloved for being starstruck on the red carpet and saying “relatable” things in interviews. For being the girl next door.
And then? Everybody got sick of it. It started to become annoying because she was doing that angle for years. All the while becoming more and more successful. She continued to play this role and people started to see it as an act and became annoyed by it. If we looked at it like a graph at what point does the success no longer meets with relatable. Does relatable even have any meaning? You can be authentic in anything you do. Who decides what isn’t authentic anymore.
So can you win? Can you become the person who is the loved forever? Do you even want to be when everyone around you is morphing you into their version of authentic.
It also brings up even more questions on why we cross examine women’s success but men are not usually held so strongly to this standard. Is this a gendered thing? society? Everything and nothing? I think there’s a dozen ways to make a case for any argument you want to follow. And since there will always be someone’s 2 cents heres mine.
I love being nosy and learning gossip. I want to know what kind of pizza people like in the same way I want to know how many houses they own. Same stakes for me. Also Being authentic gets muddy in the online and celebrity sphere. By default you can’t please everyone and to try you will never find your own happiness.
I don’t care if someone wants to eat junk food on a couch or buy a private island. It has no effect on me either way. I don’t get anything out of it but the information, I will find it interesting or I won’t.
So If you seek outside validation you wont get what your looking for. Being authentic is subjective and you should live your life in a way that makes you happy. Everything else is noise.
Until next time!